I was up really early this morning to go for a run. I like to do it to clear my head and get a plan together for the day. While I was out running in the dark, wind and light snow, I thought about which wedding I’d share on the blog today. It was probably the weather that made the decision for me. I decided to share my hottest wedding day of last year. Emily & Bob’s big day in Croft near Darlington.

I’ve mentioned before how much I like it when the bride gets ready at home. You really get a sense of their personality, where they’re from and who they are. This wedding took that one step further.  Emily’s parents have a farm near Croft and it was perfect for a wedding. Set in some beautiful countryside, with a pond and my favourite prop for photographs – a Willow tree. For the reception, they had a massive marquee set up in the garden, which turned out to be the perfect setting for what must have been close to the warmest day of the year.

The day started off, bright an early, with Emily and the bridesmaids getting ready. It was a lovely, relaxed morning. Plenty of time to inspect the preparations taking place in the marquee. Pretty soon though, family members started to gather downstairs in the front room ready to head off to the church.

Saint Peter’s church in Croft was the setting for today’s ceremony. It’s a beautiful little village church with a great old story of feuding local families building private boxes in the church so they could look down on each other as they prayed. Another little snippet of interest for you, Lewis Carroll’s father was the Rector of Saint Peter’s between 1843 and 1868. There’s a carving of a cat in the church that is supposed to have inspired the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. You come to my blog to see wedding photographs and leave with all of this useless knowledge…

After the church service it was back to the farm for an afternoon garden party. It’s not often in the UK that you shoot a garden party where people actively seek the shade, but today was one of those days. Then, as the sun started to get lower, it was inside for food, speeches, dancing and general merriment…

Enjoy the photographs and please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page.